THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE
THE "AMERICA" IN THE WATER OFF VER-SUR-MER
After cruising for hours over land in thick fog and darkness without finding Le Bourget's
landing field, near Paris, the America turned back to the coast and made a deliberate "crash,"
not a fall, into the water near this small bathing resort on the Norman coast. The plane at
once filled with water, but the airmen escaped.
Unpublished photographs from Commander Richard E. Byrd
LATER THE PLANE WAS ALMOST SUBMERGED
Bringing down the America upon the water, with her personnel safe, was a brilliant feat
in the adventures of aviation (see text, page 364). The little coastal village back of the
alighting place proper is the "Plage de Ver-sur-Mer," meaning "the Beach of Ver by the Sea."
The village is a mile inland (see text, page 365).
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